New chapter, a little later this time. Thanks to PfenixB for the awesome betaing again, you so rock, really!
Enjoy!
12
"I finished here," Yazoo quietly announced when Cid came out of his garage by the end of the day. It was just after six and the sun was still brightly shining into the dusty shop, engulfing the shelves and chrome tools with a warm light.
"Ya locked the front door?" Cid asked, throwing a quick glance at the cash box, out of habit. Yazoo nodded, laying the keys on the counter.
"Great," the mechanic retorted, grabbing the bundle and stuffing it into his pocket. He flicked his cig into the bucket and then said over his shoulder, "Ya comin´ with me."
Yazoo tilted his head, but then did as he was told, thinking that they would go up to the apartment now to have dinner and then to maybe go over some papers that were still unattended.
Instead, though, the blond led him to the small backyard behind the garage. Yazoo had never been there before and inspected the cramped court with slightly curious eyes. It was grey and stony and stuffed with several machine parts that Cid put aside now. The house was too high for the sunlight could have reached down to the ground, but the shadowed place was pleasantly cool.
"Ya goin´ ta learn sum close combat skills," Cid informed his apprentice while pushing away something that looked like the rusty skeleton of an old bike and throwing Yazoo a sidelong glance. A new cig was already dangling from his lips, polluting the fresh evening air.
The young man narrowed his eyes at that, suspicious and reluctant. Cid just couldn´t leave it alone, could he?! "And why would I need to learn that?" he asked, chin lifted.
"Cos," Cid retorted, wiping his oily hands on his dirty trousers and taking the cig out of his mouth, "ya workin´for me now. An´ I can´t afford the rumor ´bout a skinny, defenseless guy workin´ at ma shop makin' the rounds, ya know? Taday it was jest old Barret, but he already shook ya like a ragged cloth, and next time it probably won´t be jest dat. Ya don´t think I survived this long cos I´m such a nice guy, do ya?"
Yazoo graced him with another sceptic look, but didn´t object anymore, since somehow, Cid had managed to have a point. He just stood there, head tilted, and fathomlessly stared at his employer, saying "What am I supposed to do?"
The blond scratched his chin and then spit to the side, shrugging. "Jest come at me an´ hit me."
The youth slowly raised an eyebrow at that, but then gave a mental shrug. Maybe that could be fun; hitting Cid and his annoying loudmouth sounded rather tempting suddenly… He stepped forward with quick strides and then slapped the mechanic square across the face. The sound of his palm connecting with the man´s cheek was rather satisfying, but his fancy little moment of gloating was immediately destroyed when Cid frowned and simultaneously narrowed his eyes, declaring incredulously "The hell?! You hit like a girl, man…"
Ignoring the cold look he received in return, Cid moved his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest, ordering "Do it 'gain, an´ put some heart into it this time, will ya?!"
Seizing the man up again, Yazoo lashed out with considerably more tension and force –partly not even intended- but this time he didn´t even meet anything, since Cid avoided him with little effort.
"Oh c´mon buddy," he snorted at the morose, unnerved expression of his apprentice. "Ya don´t really expect your opponent to just calmly stand there and wait for ya ta bitch-slap him, do ya?" Cid shook his head, sighing.
"´kay, I´ll show ya. Keep lookin´ closely. I won´t repeat it, ya hear me?" He unfolded his arms, and bent them next to his side, hands balled into fists.
"Ya take a steady stance, legs a bit apart, but nat too much. Then ya make a fist, contract ya muscles an then ya jest… push forward!" The last words were accompanied by the blond striking out his fist with a quick movement. His fist was intended to stop a few inches before Yazoo´s face, but all the mechanic found was a vacant spot. He blinked in surprise, frowning, but then his gaze travelled lower and there he found the young man, crouched down into a ball, hands protectively held over his head. His eyes were wide and his breathing shallow as he stared at the ground, unmoving.
Quickly relaxing his threatening posture, Cid cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head and looking a little lost. "Uh… ya alright?"
Yazoo´s eyes shifted up to him and then he blinked, seeming to realise what he had just done. Lowering his arms, he slowly came up again. "Yes, I´m fine. Just a reflex… I´m sorry."
"´S alright," the blond said quietly, reaching his hand out and pulling Yazoo up, after the silver haired young man had hesitantly taken it.
"A´right, we´ll start with something different then. Guess it'll suffice if ya learn ta defend yaself first… " Cid decided, not pressing the matter further, since his assistants demeanor somehow told him that now wasn´t the right time to ask questions. It only convinced him further that he needed to teach the kid some guts, though. He was seriously wondering how Yazoo had managed to survive the streets 'til now.
"Okay, so jest imagine ya in da shop an´ someone comes from behind and grabs ya like this-" He was suddenly behind the youth in the blink of an eye, grabbing his shoulder and expecting some reaction.
"What would ya do? … Beside goin´ rigid like sum stick, that is." He frowned again, inwardly groaning at the total lack of defense.
"Okay, okay, ´s alright," he muttered, but more so to soothe himself than Yazoo. Sticking another, desperately needed cig between his lips, he lit it, the other hand still resting on Yazoo´s shoulder. The youth had meanwhile somewhat relaxed, looking over his shoulder and observing the blond with big eyes. Putting the lighter back in his pocket and blowing the smoke through his teeth Cid calmly instructed,
"Take ya left hand an´ grab ma shoulder. The one that´s holding ya."
Yazoo did as he was told, although hesitantly, and let his hand loosely rest on the man´s upper arm.
"Ya must grab harder, jest squeeze it as hard as ya can. Ya need ta have a stable grip on ma shirt if ya goin´ta throw me over ya shoulder."
With slight amusement, the mechanic watched the disbelieving widening eyes of Yazoo, but at least the grip became a little firmer.
"Good. Now ya move a little to the side and prostrate, but only slightly."
Yazoo did what he was told, but not looking as if he felt very convinced or comfortable in that position.
"´kay, jest move a little more to the side… right, that´s good. An´now ya grab ma arm with ya otha hand as well… yes, like that… and stick out ya hip a little, cos that´s where ya rollin' me over and then ya throw."
Cid got on his heels to demonstrate how he would fall if they were serious. The lax grip and the slender, weak body pressed against his almost made him sigh aloud, but he just swallowed it. The technique he tried to teach didn´t require much strength after all.
"The good thing with that method is that ya use the dynamics of ya attacker. Ya know, it´d be stupid ta want ta try an´ push against someone who could flick ya inta the next wall…" he explained, rotating his shoulder a little. Yazoo had let go of his arm and turned around, listening to his teacher with attentive eyes. He even gave a little nod and Cid thought that maybe everything wasn´t lost.
"But if ya use the guys strength against himself ya on the safe side. Ya just need ta be fast an quick-witted, but the more ya practice, the more mechanical the movements become, till ya not thinking but just doin´ it."
He took another drag from his cig. "We´ll try this again a little later, I´d say ya oughta warm up first. Wouldn´t want ya ta overstretch sumthin´… Yest run twenty rounds around the yard."
"…Are you serious?"
"Ya bet I am," Cid retorted, throwing his finished smoke on the ground and smashing it under the sole of his boot. "Ya keep runnin´ an' I'll get a punchin´ bag from the garage," he ordered, turning around and vanishing inside the house again.
When he came back, Yazoo was still making his rounds and the mechanic took his time to get the punching bag up. After a few sample hits, he was satisfied with his work and called the panting youth over. The water bottle he threw was caught with little effort and, much to Cid´s approval, he noticed that Yazoo had some reflexes. They just lay dormant and needed to be re-awakened. After years of just shutting off, it probably wouldn´t be easy to get him out of his habit to just roll up and take it.
"C´mere," Cid instructed and waited for the youth to stand beside him. It was probably easier to let him practice with something non-living first, to make him get used to it.
"Make a fist and then jest punch the bag."
Yazoo shot him an awkward look, having expected a bit more of instruction on technique, but Cid just held the bag and made an inviting, curt gesture with his head. He wanted to observe first, to get an idea what he was dealing with. Technique could come later, it certainly would, but for now, he just wanted Yazoo to come out of his shell.
Yazoo simply stood before the bag, curled his long fingers into a loose fist and dispassionately let it fall against the sandbag.
"Oh my…" Cid muttered under his breath, resisting the urge to shake his head in misery. "Ya know, ya can actually hit a bit harder, it won´t punch back…" He forced a lopsided smile onto his features, trying to look encouraging, but instead Yazoo just backed away, alienated.
Relaxing his features back into his normal grumpy face, Cid braced himself against the bag, sighing "Jest try it, ya can´t do anything wrong. Punch it with all ya have."
The blond wasn´t sure if the exasperated sigh that echoed through the yard was his own, but at least he actually felt something this time when the punching bag was hit and bounced a little against his steely body.
"Good!" he exclaimed. "See, it´s not that hard. Try again."
The next few punches were already a bit harder, eliciting the mechanic a "Yeah, that´s it! Use ya otha fist as well, ya can do that! Jest imagine ya really, really angry. Imagine the punching back jest called ya a skinny, girly dumbass!"
Yazoo shot him another awkward look, making the blond shrug and smirk, but then he just focused his attention back on the bag and his fists shot out to leave imprints on the worn, rough leather.
"Great," Cid breathed, leaning a little more weight against it to hold it in place. "Ya doin´ great."
They continued in that manner for at least half an hour. With a feeling of rising satisfaction, Cid noticed that Yazoo put more and more force into his hits, encouraged by his words and praise, until he really had trouble holding the damn bag! One look into the youth´s determined, sweating face with the tight expression told Cid that he wasn´t even listening to his words anymore, that he was totally lost in the exhausting rhythm. Cid would have given the best screwdriver in his toolbox to get a glimpse at the boy´s thoughts then, but he reckoned that it was far too early to expect him to verbally open up. For now, this had to suffice to relieve a little bit of the frustration Yazoo must feel, and it seemed to work.
Eventually Cid let go of the bag, sighing. "A´right, a´right, that´s enough, ya can stop now."
Panting, Yazoo let his red fists sink down and lifted his gaze, as if he was just coming out of some trance.
"Ya did great," the blond assured again, licking his lips and reaching for their water bottles. He handed Yazoo his and then emptied his own with a few gulps, wiping his mouth afterwards.
"We´ll stop here for taday, it´s gotten late," he decided, litting another cig already. Yazoo just nodded weakly, feeling a little dizzy from the exertion.
"From now one we put an hour o´excercise before and after work on schedule," Cid informed the youth, receiving just a tired, uncaring nod. "But now let´s jest grab some food, I´m friggin´ starvin'."
TBC
So, I hope you didn´t find this chapter broing, since well, there wasn´t THAT much happening, apart from Cid teaching Yazoo some self-defence. If you are a professional you might think this is pretty unorganiced, but so is Cid, he doesn´t really have a plan for most of the things he´s doing ;)
Valitiel: Haha, there are millions of things Cid forgot to tell Yazoo about, he´s just too chaotic XD But Yazoo has nevres made of steel, he´ll just grin and bear it, he has no other choice anyway^^ In the beginning of the last chapter there was a crucial change in behaviour that´s being continued here. Cid has accepted his responsibility and Yazoo comes to slowly accept help as well. I´m happy you liked it!
kiki-slasha: Thank you, I´m glad you liked it! I am not sure if this is the kind of contact you imagined, but it is a start^^ There will be more of course and there will be sexual tension soon. Yazoo looks good and Cid has been abstinent since years, it´s inevitable, so to speak XD I hope your inner Reno doesn´t beat you up, I´d be too happy if you decided to ship this story ^^
sareyva: Hey, I´m happy you like my Cid, he´s growing on me too^^ I might have already mentioned it, but when I started writing this I had no clear concept on his character at all. It´s getting better, though XD And I don´t think Barret can say anything in a non-threatening manner, really! He was hostile almost the whole time he had on screen in AC! Hahaha, yes, Yazoo doesn´t has it easy, but he has patience, and he´s been through worse ;) Thank you for reviewing I´m glad you liked the chapter!
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